"Fuck," Heero muttered without moving. "Why now, of all times?"
Quatre shook his head silently as Heero released a sigh of exasperation.
"Can you hand me my robe, Quatre?" Heero asked before lowering his forehead to rest against Duo's frighteningly cold cheek.
"Sure thing," the boy answered, snagging the robe from a nearby chair and handing it to Heero.
Sitting up in bed, Heero slipped the robe on, tying it loosely. He looked back down at Duo long enough to brush his still damp bangs out of his eyes.
"Keep him warm," Heero said to Trowa. "I'll be right back."
Trowa nodded, pulling the blankets tighter around Duo and himself after Heero stood up.
"I'll see if I can get out of this," Heero grumbled, walking out of the bedroom, "but I doubt I can."
~*~
Heero reached the hallway vid phone, his fingers still numb, fumbling to release the hold button.
"Yes?" Heero's annoyance obvious in the one word.
"Yuy, I have a mission for you-"
"Can it be postponed?" Heero asked, cutting Dr. J off.
"What? Postponed?!" J snorted in dismay. "Do you think if the situation weren't imperative I'd have contacted you?" He waved his hand in the air, dismissing Heero’s question. "This is war, Yuy, and you have an obligation."
"I understand Dr. J, it's just that there has been an unexpected problem."
"What sort of problem?" J asked, crossing his arms impatiently.
"Well sir," Heero began, tracing a finger along the hallway table as he spoke, "I'm not sure if you're aware, but the weather here is quite terrible...nearly 3 feet of snow." Heero shook his head at himself, not sure what he thought he would accomplish be any of this. "Anyway, Duo Maxwell has been here at the safehouse as well. He was lost out in the snow for nearly 12 hours. I went out searching for him, but it did take me a significant amount of time to find him. We've been back not even an hour."
"Are you injured or sick?" J questioned, a hint of concern flashing across his face.
"Not sick or injured," Heero said with a sigh, "But I am still quite cold...nothing I won't recover from. But it's Duo I'm worried about, sir. I'm sure he's slipped into hypothermia."
"That's quite unfortunate. However, G's boy is not your concern."
"But-"
"I'll give you till tomorrow morning to recover from the cold, but no later...understand?" Dr J's words held no sympathy.
"I understand."
"Good. I will email you the mission details tonight for you to look over. Send me a report as soon as you return."
"Yes sir," Heero answered before slamming his hand down on the disconnect button with a defiant 'bang'.
Annoyed as he was, Heero hadn't expected any different. He was a soldier and this was war. He couldn't let his feelings for Duo get in the way of the mission. He scolded himself for not reigning his emotions for Duo in, before they'd gotten this strong. With a sigh, Heero turned and headed back toward the bedroom with a new course of action in mind.
"How is he?" Heero asked as he entered the room.
"The same," Quatre said quietly. "What did Dr. J say?"
"I have until tomorrow morning," Heero said, annoyance creeping back into his voice. "Let’s get Duo into a warm bath. Quatre, can you go run the water?"
"Of course."
~*~
A few hours in a warm bath had brought Duo's temperature back up to normal and even elicited a few mumbled words in his sleep. Heero had sat watching over him the whole time, forcing himself to ignore his own exhaustion. With Trowa's help, he had dried and dressed Duo in his pajamas before carrying him back to his bed and getting in with him. He would need at least a little sleep before heading out on his mission. J's emailed briefing could wait till morning, he’d decided.
~*~
Heero woke just as the sun was beginning to rise. Duo lay pressed up against him, breathing deeply in sleep. Heero allowed himself a few moments to watch the beautiful boy next to him, reaching a hand up and trailing his fingers along his cheek. Duo seemed to instinctually turn his face into the caress. It was that moment he stopped scolding himself for his feelings toward Duo. How could such an exquisite creature *not* have captured his heart?
With a sigh, Heero forced himself to get out of the warm bed to check the email from J, tucking the blankets back in around Duo before he left. He sat down at his laptop and skimmed the message; routine information. Nothing he couldn't handle in a matter of hours, however it was an annoyance to have to leave Duo right now. But he had a mission to take care of, and the sooner he left the sooner he could get back. It was time to go.
Heero gathered up his few personal belongings, taking one last lingering look at Duo before heading out of the room and shutting the door quietly behind him. He was surprised to see Trowa standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall as if he’d been waiting for Heero to come out. They stood gazing at each other in silence for a moment before Trowa spoke.
"I wanted to know how he was."
"Still sleeping," Heero answered. "Do me a favor."
Trowa cocked his head slightly, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
"Watch over him till I get back."
The barest hint of a smile curled Trowa's lips. "I will."
Heero nodded his thanks and started past the other boy.
"Heero..."
He paused, turning to look at Trowa.
"Good luck."
Trowa always seemed full of surprises, as far as Heero was concerned. Silent as he was himself; one minute seeming indifferent to everything around him, and the next showing as much concern as Quatre did...in his own way, of course.
"Thank you," Heero said at last, then rushed down the stairs and out the door of the safehouse.
~*~
Duo stretched out on his side, just barely out of a deep sleep, not bothering to open his eyes. He was so warm and comfortable, wrapped in a cocoon of sheets and blankets, that he considered going back to sleep. His thoughts traveled lazily, trying to remind him of the events leading up to the sleep he'd just woken from. Drawing a blank, he tried thinking harder. He didn't remember even getting into bed to be honest. Duo frowned, brows furrowing as he pushed the blankets down to his waist and opened his eyes.
What Duo saw caused him to be even more confused than he'd been just a minute ago. For one, he appeared to be in Heero's bed...with Heero nowhere to be seen. However, Trowa was sitting at the end of the bed, leaning back against the footboard.
"Trowa...?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Um. Confused."
Duo suddenly found himself growing slightly annoyed by his current situation. How did one just *happen* to wake up in someone else's bed with absolutely no memory of getting there?!
"What am I doing in Heero's bed? And what are you doing just sitting there staring at me?! It’s kinda creepy ya know..." Duo’s words trailed off as he rolled over onto his back mumbling something about waking up to seeing only one beady green eye staring at him.
"You don’t remember?" Trowa asked, ignoring Duo's last comment.
"If I fucking remembered, do you think I'd have asked you?!" Duo’s head was pounding and his mouth felt like cotton. He ran his tongue over his teeth and the roof of his mouth. "Bleh. Can you get me some water and painkillers...and tell me what the hell is going on? In that order?"
"Sure, Duo."
Duo lay watching as Trowa stood and left the room. He sighed loudly, his breath ruffling his bangs, then sat and propped himself up with the pillows.
A few minutes later Trowa returned with a glass of water, Quatre in tow with the bottle of painkillers. The blond boy was grinning broadly, causing Duo to become even more annoyed.
"What... you couldn't carry both at once so you had to enlist the help of another Gundam pilot?"
They all turned toward the door as Wufei entered.
"Ugh!" Duo grabbed the blankets, pulling them up over his head in exasperation.
"So you finally decided to wake up, did you?" Wufei's voice was tinged with amusement.
"What is going on?!" Duo demanded, shoving the blankets back down and glaring at each of them in turn. "If this is family hour, where's Heero?"
The three glanced amongst themselves before turning back to Duo.
"Don't you remember anything?" Quatre asked.
"No!" Duo shouted, "For the second time, I don't have a clue what’s going on!"
"Heero’s gone." Trowa began, "He had a mission to go on."
"Ok." Duo said, shaking his head, "That still doesn’t explain what I'm doing in his bed and why the rest of you are hovering over me."
"You got lost out in the snow, Duo," Quatre explained, taking the glass of water from Trowa and handing it to Duo along with the painkillers. "You were gone for hours...Heero went out after you."
Duo took the glass and bottle as if in slow motion. The snow. Yes, he remembered now. He’d gone out just to watch the snow, but the weather had gotten bad so quickly that he’d become lost trying to find his way back. It was as if he could feel the bitter cold and the overwhelming despair all over again. He had truly thought that he would die out there...never even imagined that Heero would come looking for him. Yet, even as he sat there in Heero's warm bed, he could vaguely remember hearing the other boy calling to him over the howling wind. He had thought it was a dream or some sort of hallucination, but it must have been real. Heero had risked his life to save him!
"What did you think you were doing out there anyway?!" Wufei broke the silence, startling Duo back to the present.
"I..." Duo began quietly, shaking his head a little. "I just wanted to watch the snow falling on the lake."
"Baka!" Wufei scoffed, "Didn’t you stop to think that the lake would have been frozen over in this temperature?!"
"Well... I didn’t really think-"
"That’s for sure!" Wufei interrupted. "You’re as bad as a woman...wanting to see something as silly as snow falling on a lake. A frozen lake at that!"
Duo glared at Wufei, as the other boy began to laugh quietly.
"Shut up, Chang, or I swear I will get out of this bed and-"
"And what, Maxwell?"
"C’mon, you two," Quatre cut in, seeing Duo glare daggers into Wufei.
A low growl emitted from Duo’s throat and the Chinese boy burst out in full-blown laughter.
Duo didn't know if he were more surprised or annoyed by uncharacteristic laughter from the other boy. He sat unmoving as Wufei neared the bed to sit down and ruffle his long bangs.
"Only you, Duo," Wufei said between laughter, "Only you."
"Shut up," Duo said half-heartedly, shoving Wufei’s hand out of his hair. He couldn't quite manage to hide the grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth. He had certainly pulled a brilliant one this time!
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